Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Happy 100 weeks WOYWW, though I haven't been around for all of it, it's been lovely place to hang out. So I'm tossing confettii :D.

It's been a busy busy busy week lol. I'm going to have to sort things out soon. Soon-ish anyways lol. The card that's lying down just in front of one of the lazy susans is one I've had in my head for a while, and will probably make some more in variation.

And the little stack of cows atop the bins is from my new Imagine (which I won over at Everyday Cricut). I only got it set up last night. It prints AND then cuts them out. It is a big honking machine though lol. Definitely not something you'd want to take on a picnic. I've still got lots and lots and lots to learn, but I did need to have some cows :D. Dare I say, it's absolutely bovine? OK I dared lol.

And still following the animal theme, today is my turn to be Guest Designer at The Bug Bytes, so it's a Hippo Bird Day Two Ewes layout.

If you are wondering what other people have on their workdesk this Wednesday, then head over to The Stamping Ground and have a gander, better yet snap a picture and join in the fun. Thanks for looking, and hoping your Wednesday is glorious :D.

﻿As a spinster (spins fiber into yarn), how could I not be drawn to this stamp set? The scalloped oval is from the Lacey Labels Lite cartridge, the sheepy bits are from Papertrey Ink's My Punny Valentine stamp set, Miss Ewe! is from My Pink Stampers Punnylicious or More Punnylicious (I was too excited when I took them out of the wrappers to keep track). The crown is made with dots of Patina Distress Stickles. The sash is made with Papertrey Ink silk ribbon.

It's the first Wednesday of the month which means it's my turn to be a Guest Designer at TheBugBytes :D.

The titles, the hippo, the bird and ewes all come from the Cricut Birthday Bash cartridge. The circle is from George and Basic Shapes, but any circle will do. The blue mats are cut 4.25" x 6.25" and the cream is a stand in for a 4" x 6" photograph. The edges of the blue mats are distressed with a pair of open scissors (used like a potato peeler). The pattern papers are from Sassafas Bungle Jungle (lovvvvve this). Everything except the title shadows and the mats were outlined with an ultrafine black pen.

All the title shadows were cut out of some beige textured DCWV, and they were all kiss-cut so it would lessen the time I needed to spend distressing all the edges with a pair of scissors : D. I felt using the same cardstock as the base for all the animals kept the same tone, and I just used Distress Inks to get the different colors.

I glued the letters before I did a little extra distressing and then outlined each one with a fine line black pen. The musical notes were a background I considered making, but decided against it for now (something I might use later though lol). Painters tape was very handy for keeping the letters together to keep the pattern right: the "o" in hippo is different than the "o" in two.

I covered the hippo with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink. This also accentuated the cut lines that I later highlighted with a fine line pen.

DD thought the hippo needed a tutu, and I thought it was a brilliant idea so I used a paper piercer to punch a waist line for the tutu, cut some tulle about two times wider than the hippo, folded the tulle over at one side and attached with a sparkly purple brad. Then I attached the other side (folding it over the other way so a folded edge was on each side). Then I put one in the middle and sort of bunched up the remaining fabric and attached with the brad. You might notice that though the Hippo is dancing daintily, the "O" has fallen under the weight.

After the bird was cut, I drew lines as a substitute for layers. If you cut the layers, you can use them as a stencil if you feel more comfortable doing that.

I used the Distress Ink painting technique Tim Holtz (gotta include him in the post right?) demonstrates on his blog. Smudge the ink on a nonstick mat, spritz with Mini-Mister filled with water, use paint brush to apply to cardstock.

Before I distressed the Ewes I put the layer over the base (not glued) and used the layer as a stencil for the ear lines. Then I painted, outlined and distressed the edges of all the pieces before gluing them together.